It has been snowing heavily all morning. Looks like we might have four or more inches before it ends. I had a meeting with John Huey, the Village manager and John Morrow, the head of the Village maintenance crew this morning at Village Hall. We are planning for the building of three bridges needed to make the loop trail around the reservoir more accessible. When I moved to New Concord ten years ago, there were short trails that extended part of the way up the east and west sides of the water, but in order to loop all the way around, a hiker had to be prepared to hack through thickets of mutliflora rose along deer trails that often turned in directions the hiker wasn't really interested in going.Multilfora rose is an invasive species, introduced and promoted by well meaning agricultural "reformers" in the 1930s as the ideal "natural fence." It was easy to get it established, and its sharp and plentiful thorns would keep livestock contained as effectively as barbwire or electric wire. The problem was that multiflora rose established itself TOO easily, aggressively and rapidly reclaiming neglected fields, and filling the understory of second growth forests. It is now universally acknowledged that the promotion of multiflora rose as a tool for progressive farming was one of the worst ideas in agriculture during the last century. Today, farmers and trail builders wage a never ending battle with this weed.
About three or four years ago, a small group of reservoir enthusiasts took to carrying pruners or loppers with them when they went hiking, each time making inroads a bit deeper into the thorny multiflora brambles. But individual efforts are not enough to defeat this villain. Two years ago, we decided to draft an army of our own, and organized a "volunteer" effort employing incoming first year Muskingum College students to do battle with the multiflora rose and complete the trail around the reservoir. The day began with a major setback, when students whose fingers and lips were coated in sweet, sugary glazed donuts we fed them for breakfast disturbed a yellow-jacket nest, which descended upon them en masse. A few casualties were carried off to the local emergency room, but the rest soldiered on. In one day with a crew of 80 or so we managed to get the trail completed. Since then, we've organized quarterly volunteer days to fight back the weakened but not defeated forces of multiflora, and to complete additional trail improvements. I recently convinced the village to provide materials and skilled crew members needed to get three bridges built over small creeks or runs. I've lined up some crews of eager fraternity brothers to provide the grunt labor of lugging lumber to the isolated locations, digging postholes, and helping the village crews in any way they can.
In today's meeting we set three early April dates for the three bridge builds, and next week I'll go out with two village workers to the sites, to make sure my estimates of what is needed are correct. It will be nice to get these bridges done. It will make the trail accessible to younger and older users, who might be a little less steady on their feet, or who aren't inclined to step through or jump over muddy creeks and runs in order to get around.
Now, I've retreated to the warmth of the Jitterbug coffee house, to do a bit of grading and some other mundane tasks, and to wait and see how long the snow keeps coming down.
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